About

  I think I'll take the easy way out and reprint the Q&A from an interview I gave during DonationCoder's NANY 2009 promotion.

Q. Please tell us a bit about yourself.
A. My name is Jody Holmes and I'm a 35 year-old male.  My wife, Valerie, and I have been together for 16 years and we have two daughters, Alexis and Sienna.

Q. How'd you get started with computers and build up your skill set?
A. While growing up, our family always had computers and video games. I wrote my first program, ever, using Intellivision BASIC on an Intellivision II (I still have the system). I also still have the first computer my parents bought for my brother and I, an Atari 130XE. I wrote countless ASCII-based games on that Atari when I was a kid.

Q. Which is your favourite programming language? Which tool do you use for creating apps?
A. Lately, I would have to say AutoHotkey for its ease of use. I use PSPad for an editor. In previous jobs I've had, I developed in C and Java.

Q. Did you "teach yourself" your skills, or did learn from a school or other resource?
A. I'm entirely self-taught.

Q. How and when did you get involved in Donationcoder ? What you would like to see in Donationcoder in future?
A. Hehe... it's been so long. I signed up right when the site started out (charter member). I can't recall what brought me there, however. As for the future of DC, hmmm, I like the way it's going now. Jesse/mouser (and members) have built a really special site and community over the years.

Q. How much time do you usually spend on computers/proramming?
A. Several hours per week. Sometimes several hours per day.

Q. Do you have any other projects on the go other than your NANY app?
A. I always have several personal apps that I've developed for my own use (non-released) that I keep up on. I also have developed a suite of apps, in my spare time, for my workplace.

Q. Do you have any experience with operating system other than windows?  How much do you get involved in them?
A. Yes, I'm well versed in *nix, Solaris, and BSD environments.

Q. What are your hobbies and interests away from the desk?
A.

  1. Family.
  2. Ice hockey (have been playing since I was a small boy).
  3. Collecting video games and systems.
  4. Reading (fantasy genre, mostly).
  5. Anime and the Japanese language.

Q. Who or what in your life would you say influenced you most?
A.

  1. My wife. She is the rock in my life.
  2. My mother. She pounded manners and English grammar into my skull. They have served me well over the years.
  3. My two daughters. Every day, I look at them and shake my head in amazement.

Q. Your favourite stuff from : Food/T.V.Show/Website/Books/Music?
A.

  1. Food: Cold cereal, hot cereal, deli sandwiches & Asian food.
  2. TV show: I watch very little prime time TV. If I watch TV, it's almost always a hockey game.
  3. Website: No real favourites, per se. I do subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds to various sites, though.
  4. Books: Oh, my, where do I start? I read books in the fantasy genre, mostly. Favourite authors include:

Q. Any advice you'd give to new programmers?
A. Start small and don't be afraid to get your fingers dirty and actually TRY to DO something.

Q. Where do you see yourself in future?
A. I know this will sound like a copout, but I've never been the type to look too far ahead.